We Will Miss You!
It is with bittersweetness that I am writing to announce that my 12 year Associate/Partner/Friend is leaving our law office. Tim decided he wanted to really go into public service so as of June 20th, he will be joining the ranks of the Cook County Public Defenders’ Office. So to all my Public Defender friends far and wide, my loss is your gain! Take care of him! Since literally nothing LauraLaw does is ”typical” -Im going to have to share some memories from over the years…
I literally hired Tim within 5 minutes of ”interviewing”. We never discussed law. He came to me highly recommended from Federal Judge Virginia Kendall for whom he clerked or interned. She thought so highly of him she called little old fledging Solo Law Practice Shingle Hanger me to personally tell me how great he was. I had figured this out as well from his outstanding writing examples.
So the ”interview” went like this-I ask him ”What animal do you see yourself as? And Why? This phenonemal question had been taught to me by my Branch 44 phenomenal attorney; Emily Duerringer. Its still the greatest ice breaker and my favorite interview question! Tim’s reply was ”A Cheetah because they run fast and go far.” I loved it. So he was hired then and there and we spent the next 4 hours having the six degrees of separation chat and literally talked about everything but law! 12 years ago. We have survived as our core LauraLaw family with Maddy, Jake, and later, Dean. We survived numerous building challenges back in our old place (no heat for three weeks in December), the shared restaurant bathrooms flooding throughout our office, many many personal struggles, health issues, law clients, drives, birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, and funerals. And a Pandemic! During which I sent Maddy & Tim home but made absolutely sure they got paid. Tim will always and forever be in the LauraLaw family.
One more memory…. Because there are so so many to pick from but this one sticks out. In the ”olden” days, I had Tim pick me up and go to court together for everything. In the ”olden days” I was a huge smoker but as anyone who has ever known me can attest- I only EVER smoked Carltons SHORT, nothing else. So one day Tim & I were driving home from court at the Daley Center-it had to be nearing Christmas season -seriously I think it was late August- and I asked him to stop at the Walgreens on Halsted in order to buy Carltons. Well…they had no Carltons but they did have a giant 6 foot Santa floor display as you entered! Tim did not bat an eyelash when I said I wanted to buy it for our office! Nobody even knew how or if they could sell it to us. Finally, the manager said we could buy it if we could carry it. Again, without missing a beat, Tim dug out some rope or twine from his mystery bag and roped Santa to the top of his tiny car!
Santa stayed with us over the next 12 years through two offices and multitudes of parties. Starting in November, he presides over the front door Law Offices Lobby!
I better wrap this up as my favorite Tech guy is helping me post with all this fancy new WordPress Stuff. Tim-its too many memories and too many years to cover. But we love you and wish you well in your future career! Cook County Public Defender’s Office-here he comes!
